Father Knows Best
by P.J. Lowry
Summary: Things are slow in the city until a unit that doesn't exist suddenly comes back through the gate to confuse the station and cause them to investigate what could be going on...
1. Chapter 1

Everything seemed perfectly normal in the gate room on the Atlantis station. John Sheppard was browsing around the control room, observing everyone as they were hard at work, doing their assigned maintenance chores for the day and making sure everything was running to top efficiency. He could tell some of the crew on the station had been getting a little restless as things had been very quiet on the front. The wraith has been fighting each other too much to care about them and with the Replicators out of the picture, there wasn't much for them to do at the moment, but they had to make sure the station and the people running it were tip top and ready for anything. It was something that he was strict about and Woolsey didn't fight him on it. Everyone had to be ready for anything because the next threat could come from anywhere. Sheppard was walking up to a station where McKay and Zelenka were actively working on, and having a fierce debate about how it should be done while they were at it. Normally such aggressive and negative talk like this wouldn't be tolerated in the military but Sheppard knew better not to step in because these debates kept their minds sharp and ready for anything. It was like the sparing Ronan did all the time but in more of a mental capacity. Yet Sheppard also knew that sometimes they needed a little shove to get them back to work or nothing would ever get done.

"I told you everything is all right, how many times do I have to check this?" McKay said with a shard and very annoyed tone. "I'm a very busy guy. I have a lot of other projects and experiments that demand my attention."

This is when Sheppard stepped in to let his presence be known. "It was my idea. We need to make sure today's power surge didn't effect the Zed PM, because right now it's the only one we have."

"Like I need to be reminded of that little fact." McKay said with sharp sarcasm.

Sheppard folded his arms and gave them both a hard stare.

Zelenka knew what that meant and quickly backed down. "Calm down Rodney, we just need to be cautious with…"

Before he could finish the sentence, the gate began to lit up and dial without warning. This startled everyone in the control room, especially Zelenka and Rodney who were at the desk that controlled the Gate. They both stopped whatever it was they were quibbling about and started to work on the gate controls to find out what was going on.

Sheppard quickly walked over to their station and leaned over to speak with them. "What the hell is going on?"

Zelenka looked at the board and then back at Sheppard with a confused look on his face. "Unscheduled off world activation."

"I didn't think we had anyone out there right now." Sheppard quickly responded. He was painfully aware of the downtime everyone was currently experiencing.

"We don't." McKay quickly confirmed. "We have no teams off world."

"Then who's dialing in?" Sheppard quickly asked.

Before either of them could answer Sheppard, the gate completed dialing and the wormhole opened before them. McKay quickly made sure the shield was turned on to make sure no one could come through. A few seconds after he did that, a small beeping sound came from the console. McKay looked at it in absolute horror. "This isn't possible."

Sheppard was losing his patience. "What's going on?"

"It's a genuine code from the other side." Zelenka answered, "It's Atlantis Four asking for permission to come through."

"But we don't have anyone off world!" McKay suddenly yelped back at Zelenka.

"I know that Rodney!" Zelenka squeaked back, "but this is a legitimate SG code! It's authentic!"

Sheppard started to rub his two day old scruff, thinking it over. "There's only one way to get to the bottom of this. Open a channel to the other side of the gate." McKay hit a few buttons and then gestured to Sheppard to let him know the channel was open. "This is Lt. Col. John Sheppard. Identify yourself!"

They paused for a moment and then seconds later a fuzzy but semi-clear message came back to speak with them. "Sheppard, this is Atlantis four requesting immediate evac! We are coming in hot! I repeat we are coming in hot!" As they were listening to the message, there was a fury of weapons firing in the background. There was no doubt to Sheppard and everyone listening, whoever it was they were fighting for their lives.

"This can't be happening." McKay said clearly confused.

"That's real weapons fire, Rodney." Sheppard replied as he took time to think about what was going on.

"But Rodney's right." Zelenka said as he came to Rodney's defense. "We don't have any teams off world.

"Right now we're splitting hairs." Sheppard mused as he tried to think through it. "These people out there regardless if they happen to come from Atlantis or not are calling for help. At the moment they appear to have a legitimate code and are being fired at by hostiles. I say we let them through and then interrogate them about how they got our code."

"Are you insane?" McKay said.

"It makes sense." Zelenka said as he changed sides. "If there are Atlantis codes floating around out there, it's in our best interests to find out where these guys got it from. The only way we can do that is to let them through."

"We can always take precautions." Sheppard tapped a button on the console that he knew activated the intercom. "This is Sheppard, security to the Gate Room! Code Red! This is not a drill! I repeat… Code Red, this is not a drill!"

Within thirty seconds, close to a dozen heavily armed guards in full body armor came screaming into the Gate room and took a strategic position around the Gate. Even Ronan had run up from his sparring room with his gun drawn to back up the guards.

"Lower the shield." Sheppard said, and then he signaled Rodney to reopen communication off world. "Atlantis Four, this is Sheppard. The shield is down, evan approved. Get over here!"

"We hear you Atlantis…" the voice on the other end replied, "The shield is down! GO! GO! GO!"

Right after the shield went down a few laser shots came through the gate and hit the staircase in front of it. Seconds later, two marines dressed in legit Atlantis gear came jumping through the gate. Just after them another came through along with a few more shots. One through, he looked up at Rodney at the controls. "That's all of us, raise the shield!"

Rodney did as he was told since he didn't want anymore laser fire to come through and raised the shield. A few more beams hit the shield before the wormhole finally disintegrated and was gone. The three soldiers were tired, dirty and looked like they had been in one hell of a fire fight.

One of the troops was starting to get to his feet when he suddenly realized that none of the twelve troops watching the gate had lowered their weapons. They were all still pointing at them. "Hey guys." The first marine said. "We're all on the same side here."

Sheppard was the first from the other side to speak. "Lower your weapons and put your hands over your heads."

"Is this a joke?" the second marine asked.

"Does he sound like he's joking?" their commander finally said as he put down his gun. "Do as the Col. says and drop your guns."

The first marine was very confused. "But we…"

"Would you prefer to go back?" the commander than snapped as his soldier.

"Well, if you put it that way." The first marine didn't hesitate to drop his guns and raise his hands as requested.

After all of the soldiers were disarmed, Sheppard and McKay came down to the gate and meet their unwelcome guests, "Who are you guys?" McKay quickly asked.

"That's awfully weird coming from you Rodney. You were here in the Gate room when we left for this mission." The commander answered. "What the hell is going on?"

"How do we really know you're with the military?" McKay retorted.

"Calm down, Rodney." Sheppard said as he stepped in. "We actually have a protocol for this kind of situation. Attention!" The three soldiers all snapped into perfect posture upon being ordered to attention. So far so good, Sheppard though to himself. "Name, rank and serial numbers, soldiers!"

The first marine on the far left went first. "Smith, Roger. Sergeant. Serial number: 1752214, Sir!"

The second beside him went next. "Sanchos, Miguel. Lt. Serial number: 1856784, Sir!"

Their commanding officer finally went last. "O'Neill, Charlie. Lt. Com. Serial number: 1997715, Sir!"

Sheppard walked over to Commander O'Neill first as the name stuck out in the room like a sore thumb. "Wait one second. O'Neill? Any relation to one Jack O'Neill?"

The other two soldiers looked at each other and then back at Col. Sheppard. The Commander was also very confused. "I don't know why I need to remind you of this, Sir." it was clear to everyone that he was confused to what was going on as much as they were.

McKay finally stepped back in. "Indulge us, please."

Lt. Rogers then chipped in. "We've been stationed here for two years. You should all know who we are."

Sheppard was taken back by this but quickly recovers. "Lt. Rogers, step back in line!" the marine did as he was told and Sheppard focused back on his commanding officer. "Answer the question."

Lt. Com O'Neill paused for a moment and then finally did as he was told. "Yes, there is a relation. He's my father."


	2. Chapter 2

Sheppard was standing in the upper deck of the observation room, watching the three soldiers as they sat in the room. They had been down there for a few hours, doing pretty much nothing while everyone thought of what to do with them. Telya, Ronan and McKay had been watching from there as well all talking about what could be going on and why three new members of the Atlantis expedition they had never heard of were suddenly in their presence.

"This is so weird." McKay said out loud to no one in particular. "I don't remember General O'Neill mentioning anything about having a son."

"That's hard to imagine." Sheppard said with a glint of sarcasm, "With you two being so close and all…"

"Ha, very funny." McKay snipped back with a tinge of venom. "What I meant is General O'Neill doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would hide something like that. Why would he not want to tell people he's got a kid?"

"That's because he's dead." Everyone turned to see that Woolsey had entered the room and has quietly walked up behind them. He strolled up to the edge of the room and looked over into the room where the three men were sitting. "A few years back, I was asked to do detailed evaluations of everyone at the SGC for the Whitehouse. I had access to everyone's personal file, including Jack O'Neill's."

"Did that file mention anything about this son?" Sheppard asked.

"It did." Woolsey confirmed, "According to those files, Charles Zachary O'Neill, also known as Charlie died when he was five years old. He accidentally shot himself with the General's own service firearm which was not locked away."

"Oh my gaud." Rodney replied.

"How tragic that must have been for him." Telya said upon hearing the sad tale.

"It happened over a year before O'Neill joined the SGC." Woolsey continued to explain. "It was also what led to his divorce."

"That does present a bit of a wrinkle." Sheppard observed.

"It sure does." Ronan said as he never took his eyes of their guests. "Because that's a living, breathing dead man down there."

"Along with an entire Atlantis off world team we have no record of." Woolsey added.

"Any ideas on what we should do with them?" Rodney asked, "I mean good marines who know how to work the gate are hard to find."

Woolsey looked over at Sheppard. "I think it's time for a debriefing."

Sheppard nodded and then left the observation deck. He traveled down some stairs and past the guards at the door to walk into the room below to meet with the soldiers who had been waiting patiently in the empty room. When Sheppard walked into the room, the three men again jumped to attention to show their respect for his rank. "At ease, gentlemen. I'd like to talk do you about your mission."

O'Neill was the first to speak. "Yes, Sir. We were assigned to investigate a planet that was suspected to have been used by the ancients. Since it was not confirmed we went instead of your team since McKay's time was not wasted on stuff unless it was confirmed first." He paused for a moment and then continued. "We went over there to look for anything that could prove who lived there and were to bring back anything that could be identified that could warrant further trips back."

Sheppard was patient as he was taking this all in. "Who authorized this mission?"

All three men looked at each other and then whey they realized he was serious about the question it was Lt. Rogers who answered. "That would be you and Mr. Woolsey, Sir."

Sheppard didn't want to get into all that again. "Let's move past that for a moment. What happened on the planet? How did you get into trouble?"

O'Neill continued the debriefing. "Well, at first we were looking through what seemed to be a deserted outpost."

"Seemed to be deserted?" Sheppard repeated.

Sgt. Smith took over from there. "It was deserted right up to the point where it wasn't, Sir. It's kind of hard to explain."

"One moment there was no one home and the place looked like it hadn't been inhabited for centuries." Lt. Sanchos added, "And then before we knew it the place was tip top and full of hostiles. That's when the alarm when off and we were suddenly fighting for our lives."

"Just like that?" Sheppard asked as his snapped his fingers.

"Just like that, Sir." Rogers answered, "The place was dusty, old and full of cobwebs. Than suddenly there was a quick flash and the place was spotless and full of people who wanted us dead. We almost didn't make it out alive."

"We lost one of our own on our way to the gate." O'Neill said, "It just doesn't make any sense. One second there was nothing and another second it was like we were in a completely different place."

Sheppard was going to say something to console the commander as he knew what it was like to loose men on the field, but before he could say anything something caught the corner of his eye. Up above on the deck and waving his arms like a madman was Rodney, trying to get his attention. Sheppard used the radio in his ear to contact him. "What is it, Rodney?"

"Ask them if they saw a weird looking mirror before everything changed." Rodney quickly answered. Sheppard knew that tone of voice to mean that Rodney had a possible answer and wanted to see if the men could confirm it for him.

Sheppard took a deep breath, "I'm not sure where you're going with this, but I'll ask." He turned back to face the three soldiers. "This may sound really weird, but I have to ask. Did you guys at any point during the mission come across what McKay refers to as a funky looking mirror?

"Not that I'm aware of, Sir." Rogers answered.

"I don't remember seeing one either." O'Neill said, "But I can't speak for our fallen comrade. He may have bumped into anything and we wouldn't know it."

Sheppard nodded and padded O'Neill on the shoulder. "That's it for now guys. We need you guys to stay here for a while longer. We're going to have some grub and some magazines sent up to keep you guys busy. I'll get back to you when we have an idea of what's going on."

"Yes Sir!" All of them said as they stood up at attention again until Sheppard left the room.

Sheppard jogged back up the stairs to the observation deck to find out what the hell was going on. "All right Rodney." He started when he walked into the room, "I know you've got something spinning up there. Spill it. What is this funky mirror you're referring to?"

McKay had his usually 'I know something you don't' cock smile on his face when he started to spout of his theory. "Well, it's something I was working on when I was working at Area 51. One of the artifacts that I worked on with a group of scientists was a mirror that was recovered by the SG1 a long time ago. It was this amazing mirror that had the uncanny ability…"

"…to transport someone to an alternate universe." Woolsey finished for him. "I remember reading the mission report. You think this team may have come across one of those mirrors here in the Pegasus galaxy?"

"Precisely!" McKay said with a wide grin. "If they bumped into this mirror and touched it that would explain how everything in the room suddenly changed."

"But I remember from the report that only the person who touches the mirror travels to the alternate universe. How did the entire team travel without touching the mirror?" Woolsey quickly asked.

"There are a lot of ways to explain that away." McKay said, unwilling to let go of his theory. "It's possible that everyone in the room was transported if this mirror was fitted in the ship the right way. Anything is possible depending on how this was set up."

"It certainly explains how this O'Neill is alive and well." Telya said as she never took her eyes off the people below.

"Evidently in his world." Woolsey surmised, "Jack O'Neill was much safer with his firearms and the incident never occurred."

"There are theoretically an infinite amount of alternate universes." McKay tossed into the conversation, "So I guess there could be at least one world where it's possible that Gen. O'Neill's son never died and grew up to become..."

"A soldier." Ronan finished, "Just like his old man."

"We're going to have to contact Stargate Command." Woolsey said without hesitation. "I have a feeling they'll want to know about this development."

"I know one person who will want to know about this." Sheppard guessed.

McKay took a deep breath, "I guess we're going to have company."

"You think?" Sheppard shot back with heavy sarcasm.

"I wouldn't hesitate to cross the galaxy to see him." Telya responded, knowing exactly what they were talking about.

"That's going to make things very interesting." McKay observed.

"Nothing gets by you Rodney." Woolsey said as he left the room to make what was going to be a very awkward call to Stargate Command.


	3. Chapter 3

As expected, the Apollo was immediately dispatched to Atlantis. It took the ship two weeks to get out there from Earth by hyperspace. Everyone went to the conference room once the Apollo made contact and an orbit around the planet. Woolsey was speaking with someone when he got a communication from the gate room. "Sir, Col. Ellis is calling to let us know that he's ready to transport someone down immediately."

"All right." Woolsey confirmed, "We're ready. Send him down."

Everyone associated with the military in the room that were in the conference room all stood at attention when the transport occurred because they knew who was coming down. General O'Neill hadn't aged much since his last visit to the city, but then again he was aging very gracefully to begin with but he didn't seem to be in the mood to socialize. Before anyone had a chance to greet him, General O'Neill immediately turned to Col. Sheppard and walked right up to him. "Where is he?"

Sheppard knew the General wasn't messing around, so he got right to it. "I'll take you to them right now. We have them confined to quarters."

The General gave Sheppard an awkward gaze. "Excuse me?"

"Well…" Sheppard started, "We thought it would be best to have them confined and not speaking to anyone else until you got to see them first. We gave them quarters because it was either that or the brig."

That seemed to settle O'Neill down a bit. "All right, I appreciate that. Take me to him, right now."

"Yes, Sir. This way." Without saying a word to anyone else, the two men left the room and were gone. Everyone pretty much was left hanging there without as much as a hello from the General.

"It was nice to see you again!" McKay called out, trying to pry himself into the moment.

"Give it up, McKay." Ronan huffed as he left the room.

As they were walking down the corridors towards the room in question, O'Neill seemed eager to know more about what was going on. "Do we have any new intel on the planet this mirror is located?"

"New intel has been hard to come by, Sir." Sheppard replied, "We tried to send a drone in there to scout the area, but they weren't kidding about it being a hot zone. The drone was shot down almost immediately after being fired in there. It's obvious someone doesn't want us to see what's going on in there."

"So basically that means he can't get back there to the mirror?" the General asked.

"Not by Gate, Sir. If you really wanted to get there, we could use the Apollo to get to the planet and then sneak in by jumper to sneak in." Sheppard and his team had been working on a plan to have something to present Gen. O'Neill with by the time he got there. This was the best he could think of, "If it comes to that of course."

"Of course." the general agreed as they kept walking.

A few moments later they came across a room in the city that was their destination. There were two armed guards watching the door and they stood at attention when the two men arrived. "They're all in there, Sir."

General O'Neill stepped through the door after it had opened, and the three men who had come through the gate were lounging out in the room. They had been given some books and magazines to read through and pass the time with. It was shocking to them to see another familiar face walk through the door. One of them in the corner stood up upon seeing General O'Neill, "Dad?" he called from other end of the room. Jack looked over at the boy, and couldn't believe what he was seeing. The boy had a lot of his mother's features, and looked very similar to the Charlie he lost all those years ago.

Before he could say a world Sheppard was the first to speak. "You're in the presence of two superior officers, atten-tion!"

The three men snapped to their feet and stood for the General, but a few seconds he waved his hands. "At ease, gentlemen." Jack then turned to Sheppard, "I'd like a few moments alone with Charlie."

"Yes, Sir." Sheppard pointed to the other two in the room. "You two… out in the hall with me." Sheppard stopped at the door just before he left, "I'll be right outside if you need anything, Sir." With that he walked out the door and it closed behind him.

Jack really didn't know how to start this off after everyone had left the room to give him and Charlie time, but before he could say anything Charlie had gotten up and met him halfway across the room and embraced him with a hug. It was clear to Jack that in his alternate universe not only was he still alive, but this Charlie had a very close relationship with his Dad. A few seconds later Jack took a deep breath, "How much have you been told so far?"

"Not much." Charlie answered, "I guess they wanted the news to come from someone familiar."

"Makes sense, but I might not be as familiar as you think." Jack replied as he walked over and grabbed a chair. "That mirror that Sheppard was talking about during the briefing was something special. It's the reason why we think you were suddenly in a room full of hostiles with little or no notice. I came across one just like it during my days with SG1."

"I'm sorry." Charlie suddenly interrupted, "Since when were you a member of SG1? I've been in the Stargate program for over two years and I haven't come across a single mission file with any mention of you in it."

Jack smiled, "I was getting to that. The mirror has the uncanny ability of transporting anyone who touches it to an alternate universe. That's what we think happened to you and your men. At the moment, you're not exactly in Kansas."

Charlie started to put all the pieces together. "An alternate universe?"

"That's right, sport. Same world, same place, same people, just with a few changes here and there."

"Like you being on SG1?"

"I was in command of that unit for eight years." Jack supplied with a hint of pride.

"Wow, that is a big difference." Charlie said as he started to rub his temples. "Wait a second. Col. Sheppard called you 'Sir'… what's your rank in this universe?"

Jack smiled and then casually pointed to the star that was located on one of his shoulders, "I'm not sure what I'm doing in your world, but over here I'm a Brigadier General."

Charlie's expression was one of shock as he suddenly realized the two stars that were each located on his shoulders. "Wow. That's amazing. Where I came from you retired to dedicate yourself to a more pressing rank."

"Let me guess." Jack said with a playful tone, "Ambassador? Secretary of State? Vice President?"

"Grandfather." Charlie said as he sat back down on the bed. "You left the military after my first son was born."

"Grandkids?" Jack said out loud as it was his turn to be shocked, "Wow."

"What does that mean?" Charlie said as he noticed something else, "I don't have any kids in this world?"

Jack took a deep breath, "You're gonna want to stay seated for this one. In this world, you didn't live long enough to become a dad."

"When did this happen? Was I killed in combat?"

"You were not old enough to be in the military. It was an accident and it happened a very, very long time ago."

"How long are we talking here?" Charlie asked, determined to know everything.

"You were five." Jack answered, "It was devastating to both myself and your mother. We never recovered and divorced a short time later."

"So in this world, I don't exist?"

"You did exist, and were loved. It's just that in this world nothing turned out as well as it did in yours. Accidents happened, and because of that one thing everything else shifted and changed."

"So I have to stay here in a universe where my wife and kids don't exist?" Charlie said starting to finally realize what he was being told.

"Hey, I didn't say that." Jack sharply responded, "We are working on plans to get you back to that mirror and get you guys back to your own reality."

Charlie seemed to be really upset by what he and been told. "I'm really sorry, but I could use a few minutes alone."

Jack wanted to give him another hug and console him, but realized that might be pushing it at this point. "All right. I'm going to be staying in the city for a while until we can figure out a way to get you back. So if you want to speak again, I'll be around." Jack didn't wait for a response and immediately left the room. As he walked out the door he motioned to both Sanchos and Rogers. "You might want to go in there. He might need you guys right now." After giving that order the two men walked back into the room and Jack a started to walk down the hall.

Sheppard ran up to catch up with the General, "Is everything all right, Sir?"

"That depends on your idea of all right." Jack said as he kept walking.

"Forgive me, Sir." Sheppard started as he was slightly confused, "but I had pictured this being a happier moment for the two of you."

"Honestly Sheppard, I didn't know what to expect." Jack said as he stopped walking. "But how would you react if you found out that in this world you never lived past the age of five, never went to high school, never went to the prom, met your true love, got married, had kids or even enlisted in the military?"

Sheppard paused to mull over the question. "Sounds like that would be a real kick to the minerals, Sir."

"Exactly." Jack confirmed, "And he didn't take it to well. I'm going to give him a little space to let the whole thing sink in."

"So what do we do with them now?" Sheppard asked, hoping the General had a good answer based on his experience with these situations.

"They're not a threat, so lift the confinement to quarters." Jack answered, "And until we can find a way to get them back to their own universe three more able bodies in the SGC that require zero training or intelligence clearing is an added bonus. I doubt you're going to turn away the extra manpower."

"No Sir, I'll use every able person I can get." Sheppard concurred.

Jack rubbed his forehead. "I assume you have quarters set up for me?"

"Yes Sir, I can walk you to them now."

"Good." Jack responded, "I'm feeling a little tired from the trip and am going to rest up a bit. I want to conduct a meeting of the senior officers of the city at oh seven hundred to discuss options on how we're going to get those guys back to their own world."

"Yes Sir, I'll make sure everyone is ready and has ideas to toss around." Sheppard then began walking ahead of the General and led him to his quarters.


	4. Chapter 4

It was close to seven in the morning, and the senior staff of the Atlantis project was up and in the conference room for the big meeting with the General. O'Neill didn't realize it, but most meetings were not held until nine in the morning so being called up this early was something new much of the civilian staff were no accustomed to, especially before breakfast. Rodney couldn't stop yawning as he had been up late working on the issue and a few other station problems and was likely going right back to bed after the meeting was over.

Everyone stopped what they were doing when General O'Neill came into the large conference room and took a seat. People talking interrupted their conversations and took their own seats as the meeting was obviously going to start. "Before we get started, I have a question for the scientists."

"Shoot." Rodney said, somewhat arrogantly eager to solve his problem.

"I'm not exactly a genius when it comes to numbers, but I can add." O'Neill started with a hint of sarcasm, "Charlie only passed away twelve years ago, and he was five at the time. That means he should be around seventeen years old if he were still alive. The man I met with was in his mid to late twenties. Care to explain the age gap?"

"Well this was something I was tinkering around with when I was at Area 51. There are many theories that many parallel universes work through time faster than others. Another explanation could be the mirror itself. Compared to traveling to parallel universes, time travel is child's play. We long suspected that the mirror was capable of bouncing back and forth through time as well."

Woolsey stepped in from there. "So what you're saying is not only did this team jump to a parallel world, but they traveled back in time also?"

"That would explain the age gap." Ronan said.

O'Neill paused for a moment and took a deep sigh. "So... what are our options?"

Sheppard was the first to speak. "Well Sir, the idea of going back through the gate to get back to the mirror isn't an ideal plan. It's still a very hostile environment. We're guessing that they may have increased security at the gate after what happened to the alternate Atlantis team."

"Makes sense." Rodney replied, "We would do the same thing given the situation. I don't have to start on how secure things are at Cheyenne Mountain."

"Rodney." Sheppard said, looking like he was eager to produce a citrus fruit.

"We get the point." Woolsey said with slight annoyance, "What we need is a plan that can lower the amount of risk."

"We could fly the Apollo back to this planet." Sheppard suggested, "Use a jumper to sneak back into the base and find the room with the mirror."

"How long would it take to get there with the Apollo?" O'Neill asked.

"It's not too far away." Rodney said as he quickly crunched the numbers in his head. "We're looking at about four to six days."

"I'm not comfortable signing off on a mission like that." Woolsey quickly responded, "That is very risky as well. We don't even know if the planet has its own ships that could defend the planet."

"I agree." O'Neill agreed, which took a few of the people at the table by surprise. "There's no need to take a week long trip and risk battle when it's completely unnecessary."

"I don't understand." Telya quickly inquired, "How will we get them back to the mirror without going to this planet?"

"We already have a mirror. I'll order the Apollo to double back to earth and fetch our mirror." O'Neill sat back and enjoyed his simple plan, "No problems with risk there."

"Ummm, I'm not sure that's such a good idea." McKay suddenly said.

"Why not?" Ronan asked, "You said yourself it was in Area 51."

"It is." O'Neill quickly added, "I put it there myself."

"That's not what I meant." McKay corrected, "What I meant was I'm not sure it will be that easy to get them home using our mirror."

"Why not?" Ronan repeated.

"Sam was able to successfully dial an alternate reality correctly. I doubt you'll have any problems with it." O'Neill said with a tone meant to mock McKay.

"I just happen to know that the mirror... no longer works." Rodney tilted his head down in shame after making that confession.

"What!" O'Neill burst out.

"McKay, what did you do to this mirror?" Sheppard quickly asked.

"Why do you automatically assume that I had anything to do with this?" Rodney asked in his defense.

"You obviously were there when it broke down." Woolsey said, "That would explain your personal knowledge of the machine's status."

"I did happen to be working at Area 51 when it shorted out." Rodney quietly responded.

"McKay!" Sheppard called out.

"Look, we were testing the device to find out where it got its unlimited power supply from. This investigation was assigned by our superiors." McKay started to explain, "We were looking at the machine because it didn't have an external source and seemed to be on at all times. That kind of power source would have been very valuable to us if we could have found out what kept it going."

"And that's when it broke?" Ronan concluded.

"Well... yes." Rodney confirmed, "We seemed to short out the power supply while studying it, and no one has been able to activate it since."

"You... broke... the mirror?" Sheppard sank his head into his hands and took a large sigh of frustration.

"Well," O'Neill started as he tossed his pen onto the table. "Thanks to the incompetence of Area 51, we're back to square one."

"We're going have to consider going back to the planet." Sheppard suggested.

"The gate is not an option." O'Neill chipped in, "We'll have to consider taking a week long trip with the Apollo and use a jumper to sneak in. And I will personally make sure you're on board so you can spend the entire trip doing maintenance, repairs and upgrades to Apollo during the entire trip there and back." the General was pointing a finger McKay's way, obviously still not impressed that his mirror was broken.

"I look forward to it." McKay replied, aware of the hell the trip might be.

"If you run out of things to do, I'll put you on K.P. duty for the remainder of the ride." O'Neill barked as he stood up to leave, "I'm going to speak with Col. Ellis so we can set up a time to depart. Dismissed."

Everyone left the table to go back to work or in some people's case back to bed or right to work. Sheppard instead went to the mess hall to get some breakfast before going to start his morning routine. He grabbed some eggs, bacon, some browns and a cup of orange juice before walking into the mess to look for a table. He didn't see any sign of Ronan or Teyla so he assumed they had eaten prior to the big meeting. Sheppard was the kind of guy who preferred to eat afterwards so he had something to look forward to, which especially helped when the meeting consisted of people being chewed out by superior officers. When glancing around the room, he spotted Charlie O'Neill sitting by himself and decided to make his move. He strolled over to the table where Lt. Commander O'Neill was sitting. "May I?"

Charlie looked up from his table and realized it was the Colonel asking, "Of course, Sir." he answered as he waved a hand to welcome him to the table.

"Please, call me John." Sheppard said as he sat down. "I was hoping we could talk about how things are going while I try to ingest these artificial eggs."

"At least the bacon is real." Charlie said with a smirk, "We're doing as well as we can, considering the circumstances. Rogers and Sanchos are being ordered to remain in Atlantis until we can figure out a way to go home. Their counterparts are alive and well and serving on Earth, so going back would make things a tad sticky."

"I hear ya." Sheppard replied as he gnawed on a piece of bacon. "I've been meaning to ask you something. In this universe, Lt. Commander is only a Naval rank. Is it a rank all branches of the military use where you come from?"

"No Sir." Charlie answered, "It's only a naval rank over there too. I was in the navy for six years before transferring over to the SGC. I take it that the SGC is not run by homeland security?"

"No." Sheppard replied, "Just the Air Force."

"Interesting." Charlie said as he took in the new data.

"And how are you holding up?" Sheppard quickly asked, "I know the talk you had with the General… I mean your father, must have been tough."

"It felt like someone took a magic eraser and wiped out everything I spent the last twenty years trying to make. Everything that could have gone wrong for me in this world did. It's like a nightmare." Charlie said as he put his fork down and drained a glass of apple juice. "My parents are not even divorced where I come from. Here my death led to their separation."

"Losing of a child can do that to any marriage." Sheppard retorted, "Have you taken a moment to think about what your father might be going through right now?"

"What do you mean? He gets a second chance to have his son back. I'm surprised he isn't popping the champagne." Charlie seemed really bitter about the idea, "He gains what he lost and I lose everything. That doesn't seem fair."

"I don't know where you're getting your intel from, but no one is breaking out the bubbly anywhere." Sheppard corrected.

"I don't quite follow." Charlie said.

"You're a dad so look at it this way." Sheppard replied, "How would you respond if you went home to find out that one of your children had died?"

"It would devastate me." Charlie answered, "It would without a doubt be the worst day of my life."

"A lot of people would respond that way." Sheppard said, "So how would you respond if it was your service firearm that your kid accidentally shot and took his own life with?"

Charlie sat there and seemed unable to respond. Sheppard had guessed right that General O'Neill had broken the news to him but had not given him the exact details of what exactly happened. "Wow. It would take a very long time for me to get over that."

"The General hasn't said anything, but your presence here is not a second chance. It's a stark reminder of everything he missed out on. A very painful one if I'm not mistaken." Sheppard kept attacking his eggs and let that sink in.

"I never really thought of it that way." Charlie said, "And all this time I was thinking about what I lost and I never took the time to think if what he's been put through over the last twenty years."

"Twelve, actually." Sheppard corrected.

"Twelve." Charlie paused for a moment, "What year is it?" Sheppard opened his notepad and scribbled down the date, and slipped it over to him. Charlie looked at it and rubbed his temple trying to absorb the new information. "I don't get it. How did this happen?"

"We think the mirror was responsible for this as well." Sheppard replied, "We've had some of our best minds going over this thing for a decade and we still don't know the full scope of what this thing is capable of doing."

"I might keep this from the guys for now. Since they're not heading back to earth anytime soon, they might not notice."

"Is that possible?" Sheppard asked, "Don't have I have any grey hairs five years from now?"

"No Sir." Charlie said with a smile, "But I'll just tell the guys that the McKay in the world uses hair dye."

Sheppard laughed, "I guess the television shows will be very boring too."

"Well I didn't watch much TV where I came from." Charlie honestly replied, "But I can tell you this much: the next seven Superbowls are going to be very uneventful."

Sheppard stopped what he was doing and dropped his fork. He tore a piece of paper out of the back of his binder and handed it and a pen over to Charlie. "Write down the winners, the losers and the final scores if you can remember them."

"Well Sir, I'm not sure if that's very moral."

"That wasn't a request Commander."

"Yes Sir." Charlie said as he wrote down the teams and numbers on the piece of paper. "You do realize that in my world the results might be different. One missed pass or a different draft pick could change everything."

"I'll take my chances." Sheppard said as he took back the piece of paper and started to read it.

"You're not going to take that to Vegas are you?"

"No." Sheppard answered, "I'm the kind of guy who likes spoilers. If anything I might use it to win some personal bets, nothing for money." He looked at some of the teams and then back at Charlie, "Are you kidding me?" He asked as he pointed to a specific year.

"No Sir. In our world they're favored to three-peat."

"Unbelievable."


End file.
